Temp got to 79f

[Haveuseen1]

I brewed a pale ale on Sunday, and had made a 2L starter with White Labs WLP060 American Ale Yeast Blend.

Ferm temp was a stable 68f for Sunday Night thru Tuesday Morning. For some reason someone turned the air off upstairs and the temp got to 79f today. I have the air back on and the temp should be back to 68f by the morning.

Airlock had good activity 6-8 hours after pitching. About midnight Sunday.

How bad is this going to be?

Thank you.

 

[jgardner6]

If all your yeast growth was done and it was fermenting already then you should be ok with no off flavors.

 

[UnDeadly]

My guess is you should probably be OK. In my early brewing days, before I realized how important temperature was, I would regularly hover around 75 and would not be surprised if it touched your temperature for longer periods of time. Some of the beers turned out not so great, but others were fine. And I'm pretty sure nearly all of them drinkable with enough time in the bottle.

In short...I think you will be OK, especially because it was not for a huge amount of time, and the yeast already got a good couple of days at good temps.

 

[kanzimonson]

Just to clarify, was your ambient temp at 68 or the temp of the fermenter? If it was the fermenter, then you're fine. If it was the air temp, then you're probably okay but pushing the limits.

Nobody wants to believe that the temp of the fermenter can exceed the room temp, but measure it once and you'll see.

 

[jfowler1]

....but see my post -

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/temp-control-rocks-until-175773/

I know that upper 70's is not the same as upper 90's, but the beer that I once described as unremarkable, I would now describe as undrinkable. It actually got worse as it aged, probably because the IBU's, which once masked the off flavors, dropped out of the beer.

I did learn a lesson; screw all the never dump a beer talk. My new policy, "Cut your losses, and rebrew it next weekend."